


I'm Pretty Sure Roadtrips With Strangers Is Just Hitchhiking

by CornOwl



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: OC character - Freeform, Roadtrip Adventure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-18
Updated: 2017-11-26
Packaged: 2018-11-15 19:13:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11237427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CornOwl/pseuds/CornOwl
Summary: (Takes place after Season 2. I have not watched anything past that)Alternatively titled: The Astral Plane Teleported Me Across The Entire Stupid Galaxy And Now I Have To Go On An Intergalactic Roadtrip With Some Rando From A Planet I've Never Even Heard Of.Alternatively alternatively titled: My Friends And I Went To Investigate Some Mysterious Phenomenon Without Adult Supervision Like Some Kids From A Coming Of Age Movie And Were Surprised When Things Went WrongWhen they defeated Zarkon, the Paladins thought they'd won a decisive victory. But then Shiro vanishes without a trace, spirited out of his own lion. The rest of the Paladins would suspect Alien Abduction, but, well...On the other side of the galaxy,  in an unremarkable town on an unremarkable planet, four kids go on an EXTREMELY REMARKABLE ADVENTURE.





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This prologue is literally just a transcription of the end of season 2, if you don’t need a refresher, feel free to skip right to chapter 1

All five paladins roared in defiance and ripped Voltron’s sword upward through Zarkon’s mech. The entire thing exploded, scattering debris and tearing Voltron apart.

As soon as Lance could breathe again, he asked shakily, “Did we do it?”

Hunk echoed him with a strained, “Is it over?”

It seemed to be. Zarkon’s mech floated lifelessly near his battleship. Everything was quiet, though to be fair, space typically is.

At Coran’s call, the paladins pointed their lions back toward the castle.

All except one. Shiro’s lion didn’t move.

“W-we have to tow him back on the ship!” Pidge called frantically, and they and Keith shifted course to take hold of the motionless lion. Without much trouble, they loaded it on board, and Allura launched the ship through a wormhole, just moments ahead of a small battalion of Galra fighters.

In the relative safety of empty space, they all rushed to the black lion. Shiro still hadn’t come out, and the lion was unresponsive as well. Keith practically broke down the door to get it to open faster. But they all paused in shock as they took in the cockpit.

The lights were dimmed to their lowest setting. A lone indicator on the dashboard blinked steadily, standing out against the gloom. The black bayard stuck out from its slot, still activated, but useless now.

The pilot’s chair was empty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, now that we've got the canon set up, we can get going with the actual story. Don't worry, the next chapter is a LOT LONGER than this, and I'm posting it RIGHT NOW, so hold tight if you don't see it yet.


	2. The Beginning of Every Coming Of Age Movie Ever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m choosing to use words and phrasing that would, for the most part, match what earthlings would use, rather than try to use made up “sci fi terminology”, mainly because, this story is a purely self indulgent exercise for fun, and you know what’s not fun? Trying to describe a giant magical alien jellyfish in intimate detail without using the word “jellyfish” and still making you readers aware of what I’m talking about. So forget that. If you want you can just pretend they are using terminology that applies to their world, and it’s just being translated as jellyfish. Sure. That’ll work, probably, except no, because I wrote a whole language for this shit what am I doing? Im fucking it up that’s what. Thanks for reading
> 
> PS if you're having trouble reading/seeing the text messages early in this chapter, you can read them (or a transcription of what they say) here: http://owlswritestories.tumblr.com/post/161980313706/here-are-the-text-conversations-for-a-story-im

Light exploded into Lux’s bedroom. She launched herself out of bed, nearly overbalancing. She only just avoided ending up on the floor by counterbalancing with her tails. Even so, she still collided painfully with her dresser. Squinting out her window, she tried to determine the source of the brightness, but it was too much. Lux shut her watering eyes, squeezing out a couple tears. After a moment, the light leaking through her eyelids began to dim, and she slowly opened an eye.

The forest that covered the south end of the valley had been a playpen of sorts for Lux and her friends since they were old enough to walk. In the dead of night like this, not even the moonlight could penetrate the thick canopy of white-topped trees, but the weird amber glow filtered through the branches and trunks without a problem. The deep blue leaves of the under canopy looked almost green in the light.

Lux stared into the forest for a while longer, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever was casting the light, but nothing moved.

Lux’s phone let out a nearly inaudible buzz. She dove for it, digging through her bedsheets to find where she had buried it a few hours earlier. She snatched it out from underneath her pillow just as it buzzed again.

 

The phone buzzed in Lux’s hands, and a notification popped up from their group chat.

Lux could almost picture Exey’s massive facepalm-groan combo.

Lux rushed to throw on the shorts and tank she’d dumped on the floor yesterday, then shoved her arms into her jacket and her phone in its pocket. The door opened silently at her touch, and Lux paused for a moment, listening. Her stunt with the dresser earlier could have woken someone up… But no, her parents snores filtered down the hall, and some tinkling music slipped out underneath Kizzie’s door, as expected. Breathing slowly, she made her way down the stairs, avoiding the squeaky boards with practiced ease.

Leaving the house was a bit trickier. Both the front door and the back door creaked and cracked if anyone so much as breathed on them. Not an option. Fortunately, her mom always left the kitchen window open, to keep the air inside from “getting stale”, according to her. Her father had long since stopped questioning her mother’s strange habits, and it wasn’t like they had to worry about burglars anyway. This was Lux’s escape route. The only issue, as it always was, was climbing onto and over the sink without making too much noise. But, well, she’d had plenty of practice.

Lux heaved herself onto the counter, back to the window, and edged onto the narrow bit of counter behind the sink basin. She lined up with the opening as best she could and threw her feet out backwards, ducking her head as the rest of her followed. She briefly grabbed hold of the window ledge to slow her fall and silence her landing. Then just a quick running vault over her back fence and she was on her way to the forest.

She approached the trees at a slow jog. Exey’s house was closer to the edge of town than hers, so her eyes swept around, searching for the familiar figure. Her antennae twitched, sensing a familiar energy, and she slipped off the path into the underbrush.

He heard her coming of course, how could he not? His huge almond ears had flicked toward her even before she had noticed him, but he didn’t turn as she approached. He stared out into the forest, pupils narrowed to slits and lips pressed firmly in a line. “Are we really doing this?” he asked, keeping his voice low.

She kneeled by his side. “Was that a rhetorical question?”

He sighed, passing a clawed hand through the blue-purple feathers on his head. “Yes.”

She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, feeling the tension in the muscle beneath. “Exey, in all seriousness, if this starts to look even a _little_ bit dangerous, we’re going back to get some help, okay?”

“We should be bringing help _now_.”

She bit her lip, gently. She was still growing out of the sharp teeth that she’d decided were too irritating after only a few hours. Her tails brushed up against his ankles, the rounded tips glowing faintly green. She was stalling, wishing she had a better reason than “it doesn’t feel bad.”

_Th-thump_

Something, or rather, two somethings impacted the tree above their heads, sending leaves tumbling down over them.

Lux let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “That’ll be the twins,” she muttered softly.

“Holy crap! That time was so good!” Cerys announced loudly. She crouched on a branch, gripping it with her hands and pulling her wing flaps closed against her back. Her striped tail wrapped around her brother’s spotted one and tugged playfully. Calix squeaked and threw his arms around the trunk.

Exey whisper-shouted, “HUSH,” into the branches.

Calix gasped softly. “Sorry sorry, we didn’t me-eaAHHH!” Cerys lost her balance and dragged them both off their branch, startling a flock of silver birds which flew off in a huff.

“Well, so much for stealth,” Exey muttered irritably.

“So what’d we miss,” the twins whispered, jumping up behind them, brushing off leaves. Exey glanced at them and let out a weird choked scream, which he quickly muffled beneath his hands.

Lux glanced at them, startled, then rolled her eyes. “That’s a nice look you two.” Eight pairs of eyes blinked back at her.

“Lux that’s not fair, you were supposed to scream,” Cerys said. 

“Yeah, scream like Exey,” Calix said, and they both snickered.

“When’d you two decide you needed four eyes instead of two?” Lux asked.

“This morning,” Calix replied.

His sister continued, “We thought it would make it easier to see where we were flying if we had more eyes, but it just made it even _more_ confusing.”

“Well yeah, I could have told you that,” Lux said, chuckling.

“Buuut,” Calix said, “after seeing everything _super_ confusing, when we closed our _extra_ eyes, it was way super easier to do it! Like, easier than it was before." 

“You still crashed though.”

Cerys brushed her off. “We just haven’t got the hang of stopping yet.”

“That’s like, the most important part of flying. Starting and then stopping. The middle is the easy part.”

A sharp whistle from a tree to their right made them all jump, and a bird, apparently having missed the memo, streaked off after its flock, golden light bouncing off silver feathers. Attention drawn back to the task at hand, the four peered around the tree nervously.

“We checked, but we couldn’t see what was glowing from up in the tree,” Calix whispered, frowning.

“Well, I guess we just have to get closer,” Lux said. She looked the twins in all eight of their eyes. “Ground rules guys. We’re going to go carefully, no roughhousing, no running, no fooling around. We stay together. If something starts to look bad, we retreat _immediately_ , do you understand?”

They all nodded solemnly.

“Okay then, stay behind me.”

They moved out from behind the tree, Lux, then Exey, Calix, and Cerys. They weren’t trying to be sneaky, exactly, just quiet, keeping their eyes peeled for anything suspicious. The forest had many animal trails running through it, where the foliage was thinner, and they tried to stick to them whenever possible. A couple times, small animals darted out across their path. The first time, Exey almost made them turn back. It wasn’t until the squirrel ran back across their path in the other direction (toward the light instead of away) was Exey forced to admit that no, it was not fleeing some evil force at the source of the light, so no, it is not a sufficient rreason to turn back yet, Exey, come on, don’t be a coward.

It was only when they passed a mark that they themselves had carved into a tree that Cerys whispered, “You guys realize where we’re going, right?” Lux nodded, but the small girl continued anyway. “The Grove.”

“Do you think… There might be something _in_ the Grove?” Calix asked, struggling to keep his voice to a whisper. “Do you think we can find a way in now?”

“You think we’re going in there even if there is?” Exey asked, incredulous.

Calix shrugged but didn’t answer. They started moving again.

Soon, they could see the Grove clearly through the trees, leaves practically glowing, and light leaking out from what little space there was between the trunks. It was glowing so brightly, it looked like daylight here.

The group circled around the outside of the Grove, finally pausing behind a clump of trees a few feet from the edge. In all their wanderings, the Grove had been the one place that was always off limits to them, only because the trees that made up the Grove grew so close together it was impossible to climb through. Even the highest branches grew together forming a living roof over whatever was inside. Despite their best efforts, the four of them had never found a way in.

There was a way in now. It was as if several of the trees on the north side of the Grove had simply vanished, forming a doorway a few feet across.

“I was right, there _is_ a way in!” Calix whispered excitedly, moving to dash toward the opening. 

Lux caught him by the back of his shirt. “Absolutely not.” Behind her, Exey had grabbed hold of Cerys.

The pair spluttered indignantly, but he hushed them. “Hold on, I’m trying to listen." 

They quieted instantly. Exey turned his ears toward the Grove, as Lux’s antennae did the same. Calix grumbled something about “growing bigger ears” to Cerys.

There was something unusual inside the Grove. It almost sounded like…

“Wind?” Exey said. “I’ve never heard wind coming from in there before.”

Lux shook her head slowly. “There’s no wind in there. It’s more like… something moving? Moving through the leaves?”

“Something?” Exey asked hurriedly. “What kind of something?”

Lux tilted her head. “Maybe… some sort of… creature?”

“Creature? Okay, sounds like thats our cue. Let’s get the heck out of here guys.”

“Wait.”

“Lux, no!” Exey grabbed her shoulder. “ _You said_ that if it seems even a _little bit_ dangerous that we would _go get help_. Well guess what!”

She cut him off, “We don’t know that it’s dangerous.”

 _“Lux!”_  

“Let’s just… Let’s just go have a look inside." 

“Yeah, Exey, c’mon!” Calix poked his side.

“Please, Exey?” Cerys peered up at him.

“Stop encouraging each other!” Exey held firm for all of thirty seconds. “...Fine. But we are NOT going INSIDE!”

They crept the few feet to the edge of the opening. Lux guided them to stand behind her, the slowly peered around the trees 

The space inside the Grove was only a little smaller than Lux’s bedroom, and was bathed in bright, warm light. The roof was almost too bright to look at, but from what she could see, it was like there was a pool of water suspended in the air. Strange translucent vines hung down from the water, swinging freely through the space. Their movement was causing the wind-like sound, as they brushed against each other and the leaves. Off to the left, the vines had become loosely tangled together, curling around the prone, _floating_ figure of a man. Lux sucked in a surprised gasp.

“What? What is it?” Calix asked, practically crawling over top of Lux to get a look.

Lux relented, grabbing hold of him before stepping out in front of the opening, allowing the others to see inside.

“Whoa,” the twins said.

Exey was staring blankly into the clearing, mouth hanging open and ears twitching wildly.

Lux looked back at the man. He was dressed in some sort of white armor, which was worrying, with a stylized black V emblazoned across the chestpiece. His hair was mostly black, except for a streak of white that lay haphazardly across his forehead. Although he was probably older than all of _them_ , he looked very young, maybe only a couple years older than Lux. He hadn’t reacted at all to their noise, so Lux figured he was unconscious.

Lux’s attention was suddenly drawn away as a few of the vines that hung near them began to tilt upward at the ends, like they were reaching out for them. Lux reacted instantly, yanking Calix behind the trees on one side of the opening. The boy ended up sprawled across her lap, his head leaning against her shoulder and a bony elbow pressed into her stomach. They both looked across the opening to Exey, who had wrapped as much of himself around Cerys as he could, not that she looked at all like she was trying to escape. After a few moments, when nothing else happened, Lux chanced another peek around the corner.

The vines were still pointed vaguely in their direction, but they didn’t seem to have moved any more. She shifted Calix out of her lap and twisted to face the clearing again. The only thing she felt, looking up at the vines and the light, was calm. She couldn’t bring herself to believe this thing was dangerous.

Slowly, as if she was in a trance, Lux stood up and took a step into the Grove. Behind her, Exey hissed, “Lux, stop!” She waved him off and took another step. The warm light washed over her, sending a shiver through her antennae and tails. “Calix!” She glanced over her shoulder. Exey stood up suddenly, tucking Cerys under his arm and diving after Calix, who had made to follow Lux. Scooping him up, he held the two of them just outside the edge of the Grove. His eyes landed back on her and widened. “LUX!”

Something smooth and warm wrapped around her arm. Before she’d even turned back to look, three more vines had caught hold of her stomach and other arm and pulled her a few feet off the ground. She gasped and pulled back against their hold, but they were wrapped tightly. More vines tangled around her, not touching, just hovering, like the ones that surrounded the man on the other side.

“Dammit, Lux.” Exey shoved the twins behind him with enough force to make them stumble and stepped into the Grove. The vines still hanging loose immediately began to reach for him as well. He jumped back out of their reach. They returned to hover around Lux. “See, this is why I said we _weren’t going inside,_ ” he said. He was trying to sound angry, but his voice wavered, and his eyes were wide and worried.

“S-sorry, Exey. You were right,” Lux said, trying to keep the wobble out of her own voice with a smile. She opened her mouth to say something else, but at that moment the rounded tips of the vines began to glow and they became almost uncomfortably hot.

“Lux, Lux, what’s going on? What’re they doing to you?” Exey looked like he was about to throw himself after her, vines or no.

She nearly told him she didn’t know, but she realized at that moment that she did. “They’re… draining my energy…” As if to agree, a spark of electricity jumped from her body to several of the hovering vines. Exey sucked in a sharp breath. Another spark leapt to the waiting vines, and Exey clenched his fists. Lux winced at his expression. “Exey, go… go get our parents. Sorry about this.”

“What about you?” He leaned too far forward, and the vines reached for him again. He forced himself to move back. “You can’t make me leave you here.”

“It’s okay. It’s draining my energy, but not very quickly, and it doesn’t hurt. You have time, just… get someone who might know about this okay?” She gave the three of them a wobbly smile. The twins, for their part, had been standing stock still in the opening, staring at her with frightened wide eyes. Their senses returned to them at her request, and they almost simultaneously launched themselves back into the forest, already shouting for help. Exey didn’t move. She could see his whole body shaking, though from fear or anger, she didn’t know. Probably both.

“It- it’s going to be okay, Lux. I’ll save you, I promise.” Lux could only nod as he turned and raced after the twins.

Alone, hanging in the grasp of the vines with nothing else to do but wait and feel her energy drain away, fear began to creep into her mind, setting her whole body shivering. She swallowed uncomfortably and tilted her head back to stare up at the ceiling, squeezing her eyes almost shut against the light.  The substance above her didn’t look as much like water from this angle. It was familiar though. It was nearly transparent, giving her a view of the tangled underside of the canopy hung over the Grove. It was much thinner than she had thought from outside, almost like a sheet of clear dough pressed into the branches. The vines seemed to be made of the same sort of substance, shiny and translucent, and completely unable to stay still, even without any wind blowing through the clearing.

It was like a jellyfish, Lux realized. Its movements were smooth and organic, and Lux found herself wondering if this thing was actually alive. The creature’s whole body shivered as a spark raced along its underbelly, jumping away from Lux and disappearing into the vines (or tentacles?) that hovered around the man suspended to her right.

Attention diverted, Lux stared down at him. Had he been captured by the Grove like her? She didn’t recognize him though, so he wasn’t from her town, and the next town over was on the other side of the mountains to the north. That was a hell of a walk just for someone to get caught in this place. Something about him seemed odd, but Lux couldn’t put her finger on what it was exactly.

She bit her lip, screwing up her face in concentration. He didn’t _look_ that odd. Four limbs, two upper, two lower, that was pretty common. His face was a lot like hers, honestly, with most of the features on the front, two eyes, a mouth, those were in the same spots. His nose was fairly straight, which was odd for someone with a scar carved straight across it. Maybe that was it, the scar. Lux narrowed her eyes. But no, some people thought scars were cool, it wasn’t _that_ uncommon of a feature. His ears were around the side, like hers, though his were a lot rounder. He didn’t have any extra appendages, like wings or tails or antennae. Maybe that was what was throwing her off. Most adult Zixif had _some_ extra feature, heck, some had even chosen to add extra _limbs_ to their Form, so it was weird that this one had nothing. But what did Lux know, honestly. She’d only been to a handful of other places in her life.

Something brushed against the back of her neck, and she flinched away on instinct, pulling hard against the restraints. Twisting her head, she caught sight of another glowing vine tip. “Wait, hold on-” she said, not even sure the creature could understand her. The vine didn’t pause, immediately moving back to press against her neck. This time, no amount of shifting or struggling could dislodge it. The touch was warm against the base of her skull, right at the point of connection between her Form and Charge.

Lux squeezed her eyes shut in fear. If the creature managed to disrupt her Form, it could probably absorb all her energy in one go. How long had Exey been gone? He must be on his way back by now. The pressure on her neck was making her skin crawl. Her shivering redoubled in intensity, and a few tears slipped out from under her eyelids. _Exey, please hurry._

Suddenly, a warm feeling fell over her, gently urging her to _relax, you’re safe, it’s okay_. Frustratingly, her muscles began to relax without her permission, and her breathing steadied. Then, just as her shivering stopped, a shock flew through the vine into her body, and everything went white.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay look, I know I said I wasn’t going to try to describe a giant magical alien jellyfish in intimate detail without using the word “jellyfish”, but I also said I wasn’t going to put very much effort into fleshing out the Zixif species, and look where that got me. I wrote a language for them. So admittedly, some parts of their species are fleshed out more than others, with like, imaginary terms for things, the exact thing I said I WASN’T GOING TO DO but hear me out… I am a fool. I always put more effort into things than I mean to. Thanks for reading. 
> 
> And if you want to know more about the Zixif or their language or have constructive criticisms, feel free to message me here or on my tumblr: cornowl.tumblr.com. Thanks for reading
> 
> PS I promise Shiro will actually speak next chapter


	3. Chapter 3

Shiro felt strange. It was sort of like how he’d felt when he met Zarkon in the Black Lion’s mindspace: floaty, and kind of unreal. He shifted uncomfortably. At least in there he’d had a somewhat solid floor, even if it _was_ imagined.

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he felt his feet connect with a solid surface, and unconsciously he shifted his weight onto them. He pressed his lips together and slowly peered out through his eyelashes.

White. He looked all around him, seeing only a wide expanse of white nothingness. There were no distinguishable walls or ceiling, or even a horizon line, like the world’s biggest photography wall on crack.

“Hello?” He called. His voice didn’t echo at all, lacking any surfaces to rebound off of. “Anybody out there? HELLO!” He stumbled forward a few steps. “Anybody?”

Frowning, he scanned over himself for damage. The last thing he could remember, Voltron was gearing up for a final attack on Zarkon. He sucked in a breath. Had Zarkon gotten the better of them? Had they failed?

“Keith? Pidge? Hunk? Lance? Can you hear me? Are you there?” There was no response, and Shiro hoped that meant they weren’t here, that they were alright. A chill ran down his spine at the thought that he might _not_ be alright.

“Where is this?” he asked aloud, not expecting an answer.

So he was understandably surprised when a small gasp answered him. He whirled around, already bringing his fists up in a defensive pose…

And dropped them immediately, taking in the balled up form of a… an alien? Their skin was an ashy grey that faded to green around their hands and feet. Two trembling antennae grew from their hairline, blending almost seamlessly into their purple tinted hair, except for their rounded tips, which glowed green. A pair of tails, tipped with the same glowing green as the antennae, lashed against the ground. However alien the being’s appearance may have been, their behaviour was perfectly straightforward. Their arms were wrapped tightly around their legs, and they were rocking back and forth, eyes clenched tightly shut, face pressed into their knees.

Shiro took two cautious steps toward them. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly.

They nearly lept out of their skin. Wide, glowing green eyes locked onto him, mouth dropping open in surprise, or maybe fear. Their pointed ears reminded him of Allura’s, but their face was surprisingly human. They looked young, probably close to Keith’s age, if their appearance was indicative of their age at all.

The stare-down lasted all of thirty seconds before Shiro couldn’t stand the silence any longer. “Um, hi?”

The person’s face immediately crumpled, tears forming in their eyes, and the dropped their head into their hands.

Okay…?

Shiro hurried forward a few steps, stopping just outside of their reach. “Hey, hey, it’s alright, I’m not going to hurt you!” Their muffled sobs were their only response. He knelt down in front of them. “What’s wrong? Can I help you?”

They lifted their head slightly, wiping away tears that soaked their face. “Are you dead?” a soft, feminine voice asked.

He was floored. His heart began to race, arguing her question fearfully. “I… uh… what?”

“Are you dead?” They- she asked again. “Did the glowing jellyfish thing kill you?”

Shiro’s eyebrows drew together, forehead creasing. He blinked stupidly at her for a moment. “...what?”

Her face shifted, mirroring his confusion. “The- the jellyfish thing. With the tentacles? Didn’t it drain your energy away?”

“I… I have no idea what you’re talking about?” He wracked his brain, trying to remember if he knew anything about a _glowing jellyfish._

“Do you… do you not remember?” she asked hesitantly, wiping the last tears from her eyes.

“The last thing I can remember was fighting Zarkon.” And darn if it it didn’t just grind his gears to keep forgetting such important chunks of his own life.

And then he was once again thrown for a loop when the girl asked, “Who’s Zarkon?”

Shiro stared at her, mouth hanging open slightly, trying to form a rational thought that wasn’t _what?_

She stared back, confusion growing on her face. “Uh… _what’s_ Zarkon??” she asked, even more tentatively than before. “Are… are we even speaking the same language?”

_No, of course we’re not, you’re an alien._ “I don’t know? Zarkon is the leader of the Galra?” Shiro responded, not sure which question to address.

“Oh, I know _Galra_. I got it. Same language confirmed!” She gave him a shaky smile.

He couldn’t help but return it with a small smile of his own. “I still have… _many_ questions…”

She nodded, smile slipping to give way to worry.

“Let’s start simple. I’m Shiro. What’s your name?”

“Lux.”

“Nice to meet you, Lux!”

The corners of her mouth turned up again. “Nice to meet you, Shiro. Where are you from?”

“Earth, although I haven’t been home in a while.”

“Earth? I’ve never heard of it? Where is it?”

“I don’t know where we are now, so I don’t know where it is in relation to here. But it’s a planet in the Milky Way galaxy. I- I don’t know what you call it,” he finished lamely.

Lux closed her eyes and shook her head, rubbing her hands down her face. “Oh, duh, I’m dumb, I don’t know why I thought you were a Zixif. Why would a Zixif be fighting a Galra?”

_Ah, Zixif is the name of her species._ “Well, why wouldn’t you? The Galra are taking over the entire universe! Why wouldn’t you try to stop them?”

She looked up at him and shrugged helplessly. “We don’t go out much… No one’s been off world in a really long time.”

Shiro stared at her, incredulous. “Why?”

Her eyes dropped to the floor. “We… we didn’t want to get involved,” she said quietly. “Zixif have always been like that. We used to explore other planets and galaxies all the time. We always loved sightseeing. If we came across people fighting, we just… avoided the area for a while, until they worked it out... or something.” She was picking self consciously at a loose string on her jacket, stalwartly refusing to look at him. “When the Galra started trying to take over, we stopped going into that area. But then they took control more and more places, and so we just… stopped going anywhere. It’s been like this for centuries. At this point everyone’s basically stopped _wanting_ to go anywhere else… I mean, I think they thought eventually the Galra would just stop or be stopped by someone…” She finally looked back at him. “I guess they haven’t stopped, huh?”

“No, they haven’t. In fact, now they control almost the entire universe. I’m a Paladin of Voltron, one of the few things standing between the Galra and total victory,” he told her solemnly.

“So you’re someone really important, right? How’d you end up in this corner of bumfuck nowhere?”

Despite the serious topic, Shiro couldn’t help but chuckle. “What did you just call it?”

“Zixif - the planet, not our species… we’re kind of uncreative at naming things - is on the outer edge of a galaxy at the end of the universe. We’re so far from anything of note, if this was a video game, Zixif would be the last place you could visit before the game told you to go back to the play area. We’re about as far from the Galra as you can get, which is probably why they haven’t come calling yet.” Lux shrugged. “So it’s kinda weird that someone like you ended up somewhere like this.”

“So we _are_ on your planet? This is…”

She was already shaking her head. “Your _body_ is on my planet. I have no idea where we are _now_. That’s why I asked…” she took a steadying breath, “...why I asked if you were dead.”

A shiver ran down Shiro’s spine. “A-are you?”

“I don’t know.” She bit her lip, crossing her legs in a more natural position. “Look, I found your body in the middle of the woods near my town, inside a giant, glowing jellyfish _thing_ . And then it grabbed me too when I went to look. So I have no idea what happened. All I know is that it was draining my energy, so, like, I _assumed_.... you know…” She trailed off, but Shiro could guess the end of that sentence.

And the worst thing was, Shiro couldn’t even say for sure that he’d never been on her planet, because how would _he_ know? He glanced down at his hands. “I hope that’s not what happened.”

“Me too.”

They sat in silence for a moment, both caught up in their own worries. Lux’s gasp shattered the peace. Shiro looked up to see her body fading away. Her eyes were wide with fear. “W-wait-” she squeaked, an instant before she disappeared.

“H-hey! Lux!” He half stood up, heart beating wildly out of control, but a sudden calmness seeped into him almost immediately. It was clearly unnatural, but his breathing steadied anyway. The adrenaline from a moment ago vanished, oblivious to the fact that he was clearly still in danger. It was a struggle to work up even the slightest tinge of worry over what had happened to the alien girl, and even harder to worry about what might happen to him.

Because what could he do about it anyway even if he knew, his brain whispered traitorously at him. Shiro sat back down with a sigh, resigned to wait and see if anything would happen.

 

* * *

 

“LUX!”

Lux flinched and opened her eyes. Or tried to anyway. Everything was so bright, she could barely stand to peer through her eyelashes.

“Oh my god, Lux, you’re okay!” Exey said, sounding breathless and exhausted.

The relief in his voice was obvious. Lux blinked furiously against the light, forcing her eyes to adjust. Light or no, she needed to see him. “Exey?”

“I told you she’d be alright, didn’t I? Trust me, I know what I’m talking about,” a familiar voice cut in.

Lux finally opened her eyes fully. “Mom?” There, standing amongst a crowd of adults, was her mother, with arms on her hips and a smirk on her face, not looking the least bit concerned. Exey was hovering by her side, but his eyes never left Lux. She thought she could see the twins nervously standing behind their parents. Her dad and Exey’s parents were there too, along with the couple from next door, and Via, the police lady who lived nearby.

“Don’t worry, kiddo, you’re alright. Let’s get you down from there, okay?” Her mom moved into the clearing.

“No, mom, wait!” Lux said. Exey reached out to grab her sleeve, but she laid her hand over his.

“It’s alright, Exey, I promise.” She strode confidently over to Lux. She lifted her hands as vines reached out to grab her…

And then they just hovered, brushing lightly against her mom’s shoulders and hands. The vines wrapped around Lux loosened, and she slid gently to the ground.

And then almost collapsed, because holy crap, she was exhausted!

Her mother caught her before she could fall. “See, you’re okay!” She smiled at Lux, who could only blink back.

A vine brushed against her, and she flinched into her mother’s side. “It’s alright, it’s alright,” she said. “You’re not in danger here.” She reached out for the vine and let it lay loosely across her palm. Another pressed up against Lux’s shoulder. She didn’t jump as badly this time.

A sudden stream of thoughts flew into her mind. It wasn’t words exactly, more like a series of feelings, but the gist was _sorry-sorry critical-condition needed-help-fast didn’t-mean-to-scare…_

Lux glanced over at the man - _Shiro_ \- surrounded by the vines. Critical condition? What was wrong with him?

_broken-thoughts connection-severed-caused-damage brought-here-to-heal_

Lux blinked in surprise as her thought was answered by another thought stream.

Another mental voice entered the conversation. Where the creature’s voice sounded warm and yellow, this one was fresh and blue and a little salty. Mom.

_What kind of connection? Why was it severed?_

_severed-for-better bad-connection but always-cause-damage-when-severed mental-links-powerful-dangerous remaining-connection keep-him-stable good-connection_

Lux got it, even if she sort of didn’t. Rather, she could sense the truth of the statement as if she understood it, but the true meaning was lost on her.

Her mom seemed confused as well, but she just gave a brief _Thank you, I’ll be back_ before releasing the vine. “Okay, let’s get you home, Lux.”

“Mom, what-?”

Her mom slung Lux’s arm over her shoulder and began to walk her out of the Grove, supporting most of her weight, which was probably for the best, because her legs felt a bit like jellyfish tentacles, ironically. “It’s a healing AI,” she explained. “Designed by a group of Zixif who were tired of sitting on the sidelines and watching the universe tear itself apart. It was meant to be operated solely by us, converting our natural energy into healing light. Quite the groundbreaking accomplishment,” she said, voice laced with bitterness, lips curling with resentment. They reached the edge of the Grove. The other adults were staring at Lux’s mom with varying degrees of discomfort. The couple from next door, Sareez and Ezra, looked downright _sad_. Her dad just smiled and ruffled her hair. Exey and the twins looked confused. Lux wanted to ask more about the AI, but her mom sounded so… upset, she was afraid to press.

Instead she asked, “It was draining my energy… to heal Shiro?”

“Yeah.”

“Wait.” Exey stepped toward them. “If you already knew what it was, why did you look so worried when I came and got you? Not to mention you practically ran all the way here.” He crossed his arms tightly, once again failing to look angry and instead looking like he was trying to hold himself together. “You scared the shi- you really scared me!”

She patted him on the shoulder. “Sorry Exey. Ziveez is only supposed to be operated by an adult, so I was worried that it would drain too much of Lux’s energy too quickly… and, well, I was right, actually. Look at her.”

“Don’t look at me.” Lux covered her face with her free hand, feeling absurdly embarrassed about the whole ordeal.

“Don’t worry, guys, okay? Everyone is fine. Even the- Did you say Shiro?” Lux nodded absently. “Even Shiro is stable for now. We can all go back to bed.” Lux’s mom gestured for everyone to get moving.

Lux’s dad swept her quickly up into his arms, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Bedtime for bozos.”

Lux groaned and dropped her head against his shoulder.

Exey’s hand wrapped around Lux’s. She tightened her fingers reflexively, and could almost imagine the gentle grin forming on his face. “I’m glad you’re okay, Lux.”

She thought she nodded, but she might have already been asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay Shiro talked!
> 
> Okay I know the new season (is it two new seasons already?) of Voltron is out, but I haven't seen it. Because of who I am as a person, I will continue to have not seen it for some time. This story is from the end of season 2 onward, as if none of the following seasons happen.
> 
> I realize my update speed could be easily outpaced by a snail, but I do hope this story is interesting. Thanks for reading.


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